The ex-chancellier, who spoke on Wednesday for the first time since his departure from power, expressed his solidarity with Ukraine but did not respond to the criticisms which accuse him of having been too accommodating towards Vladimir Putin.
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Angela Merkel came out of her silence. Six months almost to the day after leaving power, the ex-German wasting for the first time spoke in public, Wednesday 1 er June, in Berlin. The opportunity: the ceremony organized for the departure of Reiner Hoffmann, the man who chaired for eight years the German Union Confederation (DGB) and who has just passed the hand to Yasmin Fahini, former social democratic deputy, daughter of An Iranian immigrant and first woman named in this position.
After a few words of circumstance on the importance of social dialogue, M Merkel came about it: the war in Ukraine. “I cannot hold this speech without mentioning the blatant violation of international law from which Russia has been guilty,” she said before an audience of around 200 guests. “My solidarity goes to Ukraine which has been attacked and invaded by Russia,” she added, assuring that it supported “the efforts of the federal government [German], the European Union and the States- United to put an end to this war of barbaric aggression waged by Russia “.
Evoking “a situation of infinite sadness”, M me Merkel, however, welcomed the “glimmer of hope” that, according to her, represent “Who manifested himself in favor of the Ukrainians, especially on the part of their Polish and Moldovan neighbors. “Current events remind us that peace and freedom never goes without saying,” she warned, insisting on “the formidable idea that is Europe as a community based on values and defense of peace “.
No allusion to Nord Stream 2
Since his departure from power, on December 8, 2021, the ex-chancelière had not been seen in public only twice: on February 13, at the Bundestag, on the occasion of the re-election of Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the Presidency of the Republic; Then on May 3, at Château Bellevue, residence of the head of state, where she came to attend the delivery of the order of merit to the actor Ulrich Matthes. In both cases, she had however remained silent.
Failing to speak in the oral voice, M Me Merkel had however expressed himself briefly twice and by voice before his intervention on Wednesday. On February 25, twenty-four hours after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, she told the DPA news agency that she “condemned with the greatest firmness (…) the war of aggression led by Russia, which marks a profound break in the history of post-Cold War Europe “. At the beginning of April, she said, through her spokesperson, that she “assums] her position, taken at the top of NATO in Bucharest, in 2008”, against the support of the Ukraine at the Atlantic Alliance.
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